"I might have been too emotional sometimes": NPR

Updated at 10:12 ET

On the eve of a key vote in the Senate, Justice Brett Kavanaugh released a kind of meca culpa that could determine whether or not he reaches the Supreme Court, admitting in an editorial that his testimony for the week last defending himself with force "could have been too emotional sometimes."

"I know my tone was sharp and I said some things that I should not have said.I hope everyone will understand that I was there as a son, husband and father, I have testified with five people first and foremost in my mind: my mother, my father, my wife and especially my daughters, "wrote Kavanaugh Thursday evening in the online gallery published by the Wall Street newspaper.

Last Thursday, during her testimony before the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, Christine Blasey Ford stated that Kavanaugh had been sexually assaulted while they were in high school more than three decades ago. Speaking after Ford, Mr. Kavanaugh denied with anger and tearfulness that he had never committed sexual misconduct, but he acknowledged that he had had times when he had drunk too much to be a high school student and a student. .

And Kavanaugh had also made accusations against him in strongly partisan terms, claiming that the multiple charges constituted a "calculated and orchestrated political coup" fueled by an apparently hidden anger about President Trump and the 2016 elections … and of revenge. on behalf of the Clinton. "

These harsh words had led many Democratic senators, as well as other political and legal observers, to conclude that he did not have the ideal temperament to sit in the highest court in the country – an impression Kavanaugh was seeking to express in the past. opinion ticket.

"In the future, you can count on me to be the same kind of judge and person I have been for 28 years: a lawyer, zealous, open-minded, independent and committed to the Constitution and the good. Kavanaugh wrote that, in his July speech by President Trump upon his appointment, he stated that "a good judge must be a referee – a neutral and impartial referee who favors no political party , no pleading or no policy ".

"I respect the Constitution, I believe that an independent and impartial judiciary is essential for our constitutional republic, and if the Senate confirms it to sit on the Supreme Court, I will always keep an open mind and I will We will always strive to preserve the United States Constitution and the rule of law, "promised Kavanaugh, concluding his editorial.

This commitment to neutrality seems to be aimed primarily at seducing the main Republican senators who have refused to pass judgment on the appointment of Kavanaugh. But the Democrats quickly retorted that this was not enough.

"This testimony was written, carefully prepared, planned, premeditated – not an explosion of emotion," said Senator Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee on CNN.

the Palm Beach Post Also announced on Thursday earlier that retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens told a group of retirees that he was "justified" in criticizing the fact that Kavanaugh "has demonstrated potential bias. sufficient" [litigation] in court that he would not be able to fulfill all his responsibilities ".

Before Kavanaugh's stand Thursday, undecided and critical senators had reported that the FBI's further investigation of the allegations had been "thorough". Without announcing how they would vote, they did not make any further reservations about Kavanaugh.

Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters after reviewing the report, "It sounds like a very thorough investigation, but I'll come back later in the day to read the interviews myself."

Senator Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, who insisted that the investigation be conducted prior to allowing Kavanaugh's appointment to leave the Senate Judiciary Committee, also said that the report was exhaustive and that it was not necessary. no new evidence was brought to corroborate the allegations against Kavanaugh.

Their votes are considered decisive, with that of GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski from Alaska. When the decision to ask the FBI to verify the Supreme Court's antecedents was concluded last week, Mr. Flake indicated that he would vote in favor of Kavanaugh in the absence of new information. West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin is also undecided.

Two other undecided senators declared their intentions on Thursday. Tennessee Republican Bob Corker, a retired Trump critic, announced that he would vote for Kavanaugh. Democrat Heiki Heitkamp, ​​of North Dakota, facing a tough battle for re-election in a conservative state, announced that she would oppose this nomination in an interview with WDAY, a television channel in Fargo.

Senators – and a few Republican and Democrat aides with the required permissions – are allowed to read a single copy of the FBI report in a secure room on Capitol Hill alternating quarter of an hour.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., The highest democrat on the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, was one of the senators who said that she looked at the documents.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Said that regardless of the findings of the FBI's investigation, the Senate will decide this week on the opportunity to close the debate on Kavanaugh. It is expected Friday morning.

If this vote is passed and the Senate agrees to close the discussion on Kavanaugh, a 30-hour clock begins with another vote on the question of whether he should hold the seat open to the Supreme Court.

This final vote should take place over the weekend. Both votes need a simple majority to be adopted. The room is heavily divided and so Republicans need all the support possible, but the number of senators who will vote for Kavanaugh is not yet known.

At a rally on Thursday night in Minnesota, Trump expressed confidence in the fact that Kavanaugh would still be confirmed, calling him incredible intellect, incredible person and incredible talent. "The crowd is applauding" We want Kavanaugh! "And" Vote for him in! "

Trump did not laugh at Ford's testimony – as he had done at a rally Tuesday night – but claimed that Democrats were beginning to see negative political ramifications of the long battle over Kavanaugh, especially in the battle for the Senate. A NPR / PBS NewsHour / Marist poll this week revealed that the Democrats' enthusiasm gap on the eve of the mid-term had evaporated as once the GOP's dormant commitment mounted.

Trump seemed to be referring to this poll and others who had similar results in a tweet earlier on Thursdaythen told the crowd that the Democrats would pay for their obstruction at the polls.

"All you have to do is look at the polls of the last three or four days and it shows that [Democrats’] Resistance fueled by rabies begins to turn against anyone to a level never seen before, "Trump told the crowd in Minnesota.

Three women accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct decades ago, which he denied with force and emotion.

These allegations led to the appointment process of Kavanaugh who, a few weeks ago, seemed on the verge of being quickly confirmed.

Under the agreement suspending the action on the appointment, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted in favor of appointing Mr. Kavanaugh to all the chambers, provided that the FBI has seven days to consider accusations of misconduct.

Special agents have been at work since then, talking with the people involved in the case. A White House official confirmed that the FBI had interviewed nine people. The manager, who asked not to be identified, refused to name the people, saying the background investigations are confidential.

NPR confirmed six people interviewed by the FBI as part of its investigation: Kavanaugh High School friends, P. J. Smyth, Mark Judge, Tim Gaudette and Chris Garrett; Ford's friend, Leland Keyser; and a second Kavanaugh accuser, Deborah Ramirez.

Ford, who is a professor in California, has not been interviewed by the FBI, according to his lawyers. Kavanaugh had not been interviewed either, Feinstein said.

Ramirez provided the FBI with a list of approximately 20 names of people who she said would have witnessed or heard about Kavanaugh's alleged sexual misconduct. His legal team said the FBI had not contacted these individuals.

The FBI declined to comment on the investigation.

Partisan dispute about the investigation

The scope of the investigation became the last political battle of the great war against Kavanaugh and the Supreme Court.

Democrats have accused Republicans and the White House of imposing extreme limits on the FBI's work.

"This seems to be the product of an incomplete investigation, I do not know," Feinstein told reporters Thursday morning.

Legislators and the GOP administration have stated that the FBI has the authority to consider all "credible" allegations against Kavanaugh.

It is unclear what specific parameters the White House has set in the investigation – whether, for example, it may have established its own restrictions or whether it simply applied those of the Senate Republicans when surrendered to the FBI.

In other words, the question is whether the White House has set up McConnell's FBI safeguards, even though no White House official has fixed them.

The leader of the Senate minority, Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., S complained to reporters, saying that Kavanaugh's selection process had been "severely curtailed."

Senate Majority Leader McConnell rejected this idea and all allegations against Kavanaugh in a speech on Thursday morning.

He and the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley, of R-Iowa, said the FBI had established that Kavanaugh had always told the truth and that the time had come to install him to the High Court.

"Basically, we senators should eliminate political and political waste and look at this candidacy with clarity," said Grassley. "Judge Kavanaugh is one of the most qualified candidates ever to appear before the Senate."

Royal Battle

Federal judges have been at the core of McConnell's and President Trump's long-standing political strategy, and the stakes are never greater than when they involve a vacancy on the Supreme Court.

The Republicans therefore want to confirm Kavanaugh and need all the votes they can get in a very divided Senate chamber. That 's why, when Flake suggested that the price of his support could be the break of a week to allow an investigation, Republican leaders had no choice but to d & rsquo; ;accept.

Democrats not only oppose Mr. Kavanaugh, but they remain deeply bitter after the experience that ended President Barack Obama's term when McConnell refused to hold a vote on the candidate proposed by Obama for a post at the Supreme Court that Trump finally managed to fill.

As a result, the war around Kavanaugh was always going to be caustic and prolonged even before allegations of sexual assault were reported against him. But they worsened the drama to another level by involving the ongoing national calculation on sexual assault and #MeToo movement.

The accusers

During his congressional hearing last week, Ford told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted him while he was drunk during a small social gathering during the holidays. Summer while they were in high school.

Ramirez, Kavanaugh's former classmate at Yale, said Kavanaugh was exposed to drunkenness. And a third woman, Julie Swetnick, said that she had been raped at a party Kavanaugh had attended with her childhood friend Mark Judge. According to Swetnick, this is one of the many events where girls are sexually assaulted for sexual violence or rape.

Kavanaugh, angry and in tears, denied ever having committed sexual misconduct, but he acknowledged before the Judiciary Committee that he had sometimes had too much to drink when he was a high school student and a student. l & # 39; university.

The picture that he has since formed in the press is that of a preparatory school athlete partying and a younger brother Yale. Former classmates of Kavanaugh say he saw so drunk so often that they keep open the possibility that he fainted during his high school and college years.

The presence of lawyer Michael Avenatti, who represents Swetnick, further complicates things. He is declared anti-Trump and is an enemy of the White House since filing his complaint against the president on behalf of adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Trump and the Judiciary Committee Republicans have distinguished Avenatti from his earlier work targeting the president and also claimed that Swetnick was not a credible accuser.